Do you know that eliminating meat from your diet is one of the most significant actions they
can take to stop climate change, prevent pollution and conserve water? Here are some key facts
and quotes to help you convince of the environmental case for going vegan.
Animal agriculture is the largest single contributer to global warming-making up 18% of global
greenhouse gas emissions.
The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributers to the
most serious environmental problems at every scale from local to global."Raising animals for
food is a primary cause of land degradation,air pollution,water shortage,water pollution, loss
of bio diversity and global warming.
30% of the earth"s ice-free land is directly or indirectly used for livestock production.
According to Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and
recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore,we can all help curb global warming by not
eating meat,riding a bike instead of driving, and being frugal shoppers"please eat less
meat..meat is a very carbon intensive commodity" says Nobel Peace Prize winner Rajendra
Pachauri, who is himself a vegetarian.
"There is no doubt that reducing consumption of meat especially red meat, is one of the most
effective things the individual can do to reduce their greenhouse gas pollution"
Animal agriculture is responsible for 70% lf global freshwater consumption, while 22% lf water
is used by industry and 8% is used for domestic purposes.
Producing meat is an inefficient use of food rsources.To produce 1 kg of beef,cattle are fed 13
kg of grain,to produce 1 kg of pork, pigs are fed 6 kg of grain.This grain could otherwise be
fed directly to humans providing a means to alleviate poverty and malnutrition.

Kangaroos......'Not Pests'

After decades of persecution for being pests to farmers,kangaroos have been unconditionally taken off the hit list.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Sydney has been in session over the week hearing a challenge by the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia (WPAA)to the Minister for the Environment Heritage and the Arts and others regarding the 2006-2011 Kangaroo Management Plan(KMP) .This plan is one which allows a continuous commercial kill of kangaroos for profit.
Pat O'Brien from WPAA confirms,'Out of this latest challenge to the Kangaroo Management Plan we have heard evidence that the myth that kangaroos are damaging the environment and competing for pasture with sheep or cattle is just not true.
'We are asking the tribunal to consider halting the commercial kill of kangaroos not only due to the newly outed pest myth,but for reasons of crueltyas well.
'The prescribed method of killing in pouch and out of pouch joeys is to bludgeon them over the head with a heavy object. Unlike a calibrated abattoir gun, there is no guarantee that the first blow will be the final one.When it comes to crushing the skull of a joey, whose craniums are known to be thicker than other species at the same age, the force required varies depending on age,and hence the quickness of death is in the hands of a shooter who is already worn out from shooting all night.
Scattered around the Australian country side are hundreds of thousands of kangaroo heads which have been chopped off by shooters ,however as discussed at the tribunal the chief compliance officer of the KMP does not know why this occurs.
For example if there was a shot to the jaw of a kangaroo and it was seen to have suffered , theoretically under the licensing laws of the KMP, that shooter would not only not receive an income for the carcass, he would potentially be fined for breaches of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
'Every kangaroos head is now chopped off before being put into the commercial chiller so as to bypass potential prosecution under the state cruelty laws'.